NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has unveiled her Team 2014, assigning greater responsibilities to party leaders seen close to Rahul Gandhi, the Congress vice-president and the party's face for the next general elections.

The reshuffle in the All India Congress Committee paves the way for a Cabinet reshuffle on Monday evening, which is likely to see the elevation of a number of younger leaders.

The Congress president handed out significant responsibilities to former ministers Ambika Soni, Ajay Maken and CP Joshi.

Old hands retain their place

Old hands such as Digvijaya Singh, BK Hariprasad and Janardan Dwivedi have retained their positions in the party organisation.

As with recent party appointments, Sunday's exercise bore the clear imprint of Rahul Gandhi. Leaders considered close to him, such Joshi, Madhusudan Mistry and Mohan Prakash, appear to be growing in importance within the organisation.

In all, 12 general secretaries have been appointed to look after organisational work in the states while Gulchain Singh Charak, Oscar Fernandes, Vilas Muttamwar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jagdish Tytler and Birender Singh have been relieved of their roles as general secretaries and incharges of states.

According to sources, Vilas Muttamwar, Girija Vyas, Sis Ram Ola, Oscar Fernandes and Manikrao Gavit may be inducted into the Cabinet, though no final decision has been taken yet.

Soni has been brought back in the party in her earlier more powerful avatar as general secretary in charge of the Congress president's office. So far, political secretary Ahmed Patel was the only gatekeeper to Gandhi. However, after Sunday's reshuffling of roles, there is an indication the Congress president has created another power centre within the party. This is a clear leg up for Soni, who was seen to have fallen out of favour after she resigned from the Cabinet but was not given any significant organisational responsibility.

Janardan Dwivedi, who had handled the media department for six years, has given way to the much younger Ajay Maken. Indeed, the media department itself has been rechristened "Communication, Publicity and Publication". Appointing Maken as the general secretary in charge of communication clearly indicates the party is trying to portray a youthful image to the electorate. Maken will be assisted by Maharashtra MP Priya Dutt as secretary. In the run-up to the reshuffle, Soni and Digvijaya Singh were tipped to head the media department. However, sources said Rahul intervened and clinched the position for Maken.

The Congress reshuffle also sees a surprising rise in stature of those termed 'outsiders' in party circles. Leaders such as Madhusudan Mistry and Mohan Prakash, who have made lateral entries into Congress, have risen high. Mistry, who is considered a lucky charm for Congress, especially after he steered the party to victory in the Karnataka and Kerala elections, has been given charge of politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. Â Despite a concerted campaign against him, Prakash, the former socialist leader, has retained charge of Maharashtra and entrusted with election-bound Madhya Pradesh. He has also got a promotion and been made a general secretary.

For the first time, Congress has followed the 'one man, one post' principle in the organisational rejig. After consistent demands from ministers such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, the party high command finally gave in and relieved ministers from government responsibilities and entrusted them with party work. Even Azad, who has been keeping unwell, has been relieved of his organisational responsibilities of crucial states such as Tamil Nadu.

The party has also addressed a long-standing grouse of secretaries that they do not have much organisational work. All secretaries have been given charge of one state each. Rahul has retained charge of frontal outfits. Two secretaries - Prabha Kishore Taviad and Suraj MN Hegde - have been attached to him. Earlier, when Rahul had stepped into the organisation, Jitendra Singh and Meenakshi Natarajan assisted him.

Taviad is Lok Sabha MP from Dahod (Gujarat). She was in the news recently when she broke down in the House and showed injury marks alleging the state police manhandled her while she was on way to attend Gujarat Diwas celebrations.

Hegde, who hails from Karnataka, has been actively participating in Rahul's election experiments in the youth organisations. He has been the election commissioner in Indian Youth Congress.